Press Release

HKBU International Writers’ Workshop celebrates 20th Anniversary at Literary Festival

Monday, 11 March 2024

 

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the annual Literary Festival of the International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is being held from today (11 March) to 13 March.

This year’s festival has adopted “Origins & Futures” as its theme to explore the IWW’s 20-year history and future directions, including the use of emerging technologies in creative writing. Four selected Writers-in-Residence will participate in the festival, namely Ms Ana Merino, Spanish fiction writer and poet; Mr Ronnie Scott, Australian fiction writer; Mr Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, Ghanian poet; and Mr Azam Abidov, Uzbek poet. Please refer to their biographies in the attachment.

The festival also features eight special guests, namely Professor Chung Ling, Founder of IWW and Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at HKBU; Mr Christopher Merrill, Director of the International Writing Programme of the University of Iowa, as well as six previous Writers-in-Residence from IWW and Chinese Writers’ Workshop: Ms Brit Bildøen, Norwegian novelist; Ms Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Vietnamese novelist; Ms Alecia McKenzie, Jamaican artist and novelist; Ms Lin Bai, Mainland novelist and poet; Ms Kyoko Yoshida, Japanese novelist; and Mr Keith Liu, Hong Kong poet. They will engage in various events, such as the opening keynote conversation, literary readings, panel discussions, and writing workshops.

Except for the writing workshops which are reserved for HKBU students, all other activities are free of charge and open to the public. Members of the public who are interested in joining are welcome to sign up online. Further details can be found on the HKBU Faculty of Arts’ webpage and the IWW Facebook page.

About IWW

Founded in 2004, the IWW remains one of the signature programmes of the Faculty of Arts at HKBU. For nearly twenty years, the IWW has hosted over 140 writers from more than 55 different countries, and it is one of the few writers-in-residence programmes in Asia. As a self-funded organisation, the daily operating expenses of IWW come from the donations from sponsors, the University and the Faculty of Arts. IWW has been organising free public events for many years to promote literary and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the world. IWW has demonstrated HKBU’s commitment to the development of literature and art and has become an important platform to promote the development of literature in Hong Kong. Please visit the website or Facebook page for further information about IWW activities and writers.

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The International Writers’ Workshop celebrates its 20th anniversary with a wide range of literary activities at its annual Literary Festival.
The four 2024 IWW Writers-in-Residence: (from left) Ms Ana Merino, Spanish fiction writer and poet; Mr Ronnie Scott, Australian fiction writer; Mr Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, Ghanian poet, and Mr Azam Abidov, Uzbek poet, participate in the Literary Festival.